Anki Drive Brings Video Games Into The Real World

John Gaudiosi is co-founder of GameHub Content Network and Editor-In-Chief of GamerHub.tv. He's covered the video game industry for 20 years for outlets like Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, Forbes, CNN, Entertainment Weekly, Geek Magazine, NVISION and Tegrazone.

 Published October 16, 2013 11:28 PM

Slot racing cars are now officially a thing of the past.

Those of you who grew up with electric slot racing cars are in for the next generation of hobby racing. Anki Drive is a brand new hybrid racing simulator and video game experience that features cutting edge robotics technology. You can hold the miniature racing cars in your hand, and the mat rolls out onto your living room floor for racing. But the difference lies under the hood. Every car is souped up with artificial intelligence and robotics. The base kit goes on sale for $200 on October 23 with additional vehicles available for $70 each. The app is free on Apple iTunes.

The cars race around the track, and the cars move so fast, and with such precision, that it'd be like a car racing down the highway at 250 mph with a 1/10th of an inch of clearance on either side. You can play against each other, by controlling the cars with your iOS device. Or you can play against the AI car – but watch out! He can predict your every move, and be really hard to beat.

Similar to a video game, your character evolves over time – you get to upgrade with new weapons, you can play offensively or defensively, and the cars react to each other. So if you blast a machine gun at the car in front of you, your car will actually spin out.